Knowledge is Cheap; Experience is The Best Deal of All

Sometimes I wonder if the recent posts about my ordeals with boating create the wrong impression. After all, we've heard boats described as "Holes in the water that you throw money into."

But the holes don't have to be that deep and in this case they're hardly luxurious.

Ben is a 24-foot 1973 SeaCamper.


The Kid is a 34-foot 1969 SeaGoing.


Ben lives in my driveway and is worth around $2000. Mike estimates The Kid is worth about $2500.

In the past seven months I've spent a few bucks under $200 for repairs on both boats ($135 of that was for The Kid's alternators), plus $500 in slip fees/insurance and about $60 in gasoline.

That's about $108 a month for two boats. Fifty-four bucks apiece, or $1.80 a day.

In the past seven months I've learned how to scrounge parts, make copper joints with flare fittings, run plumbing, replace leaking fixtures, install 110-circuit breakers, add extra outlets, re-wire 12-volt and 110-volt circuits to ABYC standards, make battery terminals with a torch, troubleshoot circuits and test for ground leaks with a multimeter, wire a galvanic isolater, wire a portable generator to a boat, learned the difference between grounding and bonding circuits, learned how to diagnose and repair faulty ignition components, replace alternators ... well, you get the idea.

Paying someone else to do the work would be impractical, given what the boats are worth.

I guess there's different way to save money. One of them is by postponing preventative maintenance and repairs, ignoring small problems until they mature to financial-crisis proportions (which ends up costing exponentially more in the long run).

Another way is to save money is by learning how much you can do yourself.

Yesterday afternoon I took The Kid out for almost four hours and returned to the dock without a single hiccup. There's more to do, lots to do, but I'm looking forward to learning even more and to the satisfaction and confidence accompanying hands-on experience that comes between here and getting there.